Passion Ignited (13 page)

Nitro stared at the man with her jaw clenched.
Clutching the ring in her right hand, emotions warred inside her.
On one hand, Ekhart was correct. None of the other Guardians had
been mentioned in their conversation earlier. That had been a
mistake on her part. But to lose Thrash? Raider would be
devastated. Clearly the wolf wasn’t among the faves in the
brotherhood, but he was an important asset, one they all cared
about.

“Have you ever learned what it does?” Ekhart
asked her, his tone mocking.

“I have,” she answered, flinching only
slightly as Ash stared at her in shock. “But I don’t understand why
it’s so important to you. I see no benefit in it.”

“I have my reasons, and they are of no concern
to you. Now, will you fulfill your end of our agreement? Or shall I
have my men capture your precious vampire? He is on his way here
now of course. It will be too easy.”

She thrust her hand forward, dropping the ring
into Ekhart’s open palm. He laughed, and after looking at the ring,
he closed his hand around it tightly.

“What did I tell you, Guardian? Did I not tell
you that she would risk the safety of your precious innocents out
of her own petty greed?”

“Stop,” Nitro demanded.

“None of this is true,” Ash said to Thrash.
“She’s doing this to protect Raider, not to harm
anyone.”

Ekhart spoke over them. “I created her, my
first true masterpiece. The dawn of my first race. And now that I
have what I wanted, we’ll destroy every last one of the Guardians.”
Ekhart withdrew a silver blade, the majorly pointy end sparkling in
the moonlight.

Thrash bellowed in rage, the restraints that
were binding him stretched to their max. With a snarl, he broke
free of the binds and charged Ekhart. But before he could reach
him, warriors surrounded him, protecting him from the wolf’s
wrath.

Ekhart laughed from behind his wall of muscle
as Thrash began fighting them. “Nitro, Ash…meet your brothers and
sisters.”

Nitro hissed in a breath, instantly sensing
the likeness between them. They were all just like her, and yet,
they were all her enemy. She could feel their demons fighting for
release. He couldn’t have made more Ignitis, could he?

Thrash ran headlong into the mass of them, his
massive arms and claws slashing out wherever he went. Anger coursed
through Nitro’s veins as she fought to keep her demon from
releasing, but she was quickly losing the battle. A wall of fire
licked up her legs.

Chapter Twelve

“What the
fuck
?” Raider
gaped.

He and Garrick had scoured the city, trying to
locate Thrash. There hadn’t been time to ping the damned GPS
system, so they’d gone out blind. It turned out they didn’t have to
listen too carefully. A large fireball had rent the sky blocks
away. Tracing to its location, they were shocked at what they’d
found.

“We need a cloak,” Raider said.

“Already on it,” Garrick replied. Closing his
eyes, he willed the area to appear normal to humans. “Got
it.”

Nitro and Ash stood, facing a cluster of fire
demons. Thrash sprang fiercely through the enemy line, ripping
apart anyone he came across. The wolf wasn’t in good shape,
bleeding from his head and stomach, but that didn’t stop him as he
tore through them. Fire demons faced off against the twins. They
stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a wall of fire blazing between them
and the warriors. Nitro hissed as she crouched into a fighting
stance. She’d just tensed to volt over the fire when she was
grabbed from behind and thrown to her back.

Raider flashed toward her, taking the demon
out as he plunged his dagger into his back. The demon screamed,
turning to face him. Launching himself at the demon, Raider took
him down to the ground, slamming his fist into his face. Blood
spurted from his nose and ran down his cheeks. The bastard’s hands
burned as he tried to grip Raider’s arms, but he learned rather
quickly to dodge the fiery grip.

“Don’t let him aim his hands at you,” Nitro
yelled. She was already up on her feet, battling another demon as
she held her whip in one hand and a short sword in the
other.

She looked fucking amazing. With the warm glow
of the blazing fire behind her, her profile was standing off
against the enemy. She really was everything Raider had ever
wanted. Truthfully, being angry at her had hurt worse than
anything, when all he really wanted to do was hold her.

A blast hit him in the back, sending him
flying off the demon. His breath was knocked out of him as his
stomach hit the asphalt. A pair of boots stepped into his line of
vision. In one fluid movement, he gripped his dagger and flashed to
his feet, impaling the demon in front of him.

The demon’s body convulsed as his blood
drained through the gaping hole in his stomach, the gurgling coming
from his mouth causing Raider’s stomach to revolt. He withdrew his
short sword and sliced the demon’s head clean off. The body fell to
the ground and turned to ash at his feet. Whirling around, he
readied for another attack. Instead, his attention was once again
steadied on the female.

Nitro hissed at the line of fire demons. She
looked as though she were getting ready to hurl something at
them—maybe her whip, maybe other weapons—but her hands were empty
as she shot them forward.

An explosion sent many of the demons
scattering to the ground, as if a hundred grenades had detonated at
once.
Fuck
. A large ball of flame ignited, billowing out
before rising high into the sky. Raider checked the strength of
Garrick’s cloak, which was still holding strong. As he focused back
in on the situation around him, the truth sank in.

The twins were fire demons.

That fact slammed into him, nearly sending him
to his knees. Nitro had probably laughed at his misery, at his
story that he’d told her about his family. She and Ash had probably
had a good fucking laugh about it.
Oh, poor, pitiful Raider. His
poor family was killed by fire demons, and he actually sought
comfort from one.
Yeah, he thought. He could just imagine them
laughing over it.

What if she was the demon who killed his
family?

Raider watched as Nitro launched herself
toward the man who’d been standing within the demons’ protection.
He’d been injured as well, but was in far better shape than some of
his soldiers. Ash leapt on many of the injured demons and stabbed
them in the chests, right in the hearts. Their bodies disintegrated
instantly to ash.

Raider made a mental note that these demons
could be killed by a stab through the heart. He needed to get back
in there and fight. Any reservations he had about the twins had to
wait. He hurtled himself toward the still-standing
demons.

Together, he, Thrash, and Garrick battled
through the horde of fire demons, dodging flames and fireballs that
came their way, stabbing their opponents through their hearts or
severing their heads from their bodies. He looked over out of
reflex to check on Nitro. No matter how angry he was at her
evasiveness, he still couldn’t help the urge. She fought hand to
hand with the man—he was bleeding from a few gashes on his face and
arms, Nitro was bleeding from her shoulder. She didn’t let up,
though. She kept circling him as if he were prey and she continued
to strike swiftly and efficiently.

Raider bellowed in pain as a knife plunged
into his side. Bringing his right fist around, he slammed it into a
female demon’s face. She staggered back, but regained her composure
before launching a fireball at him.

He rolled out of the way as it rushed past
him, and he heard the female scream in agony. He looked up and saw
Garrick with his blade shoved into her back, piercing her heart
from behind. The sight was eerie as fuck. Garrick stood under the
bright blue light of the moon, offset by the warm glow of fire—his
blade in the female’s back. She arched backward as he held her off
the ground with only his dagger. Her body turned to dust as she
screamed. Raider regained his footing once she was gone.

The man battling Nitro overtook her. He
careened into her and, as her back scraped against the asphalt, he
pulled her whip from her hands. A loud crack echoed off the
surrounding buildings as he brought it down against her. A welt of
blood trickled from her neck as she cried out.

Raider ran toward them, too weak to flash. As
he neared the bastard, something flashed brightly. Raider covered
his eyes from the blazing light. When he regained his sight, he saw
the man step through a portal just before he—and the
portal—vanished. Raider reached Nitro as she pushed herself to her
feet. She brushed herself off, rubbing at the blood that covered
her neck.

A puff of smoke drew his attention to her
hand. In her palm, she extinguished a ball of fire she’d been
holding. They locked eyes, and the momentary joy he’d felt that she
was alright dissipated.

She’d lied to him.

Her expression proved as much. Her eyes glowed
a menacing red as her breath heaved in and out of her. She truly
was a demon, which enraged him. He didn’t know how long they stood
there, silently staring at each other. He’d heard the others
speaking around them, but that was gone now. Only silence echoed
through the alley.

They were alone now, and he realized that the
others left the alley in an attempt to avoid the showdown that was
going to happen between them.

“Why didn’t you fucking tell me?” he
growled.

“I don’t need to explain myself. I answer to
no one, least of all a pathetic Guardian who’d rather die a coward
than to destroy the one who murdered his family.”

Raider stepped back only slightly, the sting
of her words piercing his heart. Destroying the bastard that had
done that had always been important to him, but with no tangible
proof on the exact demon who’d done that monstrous deed, he
couldn’t just go out murdering every fire demon he’d run across.
Hell, he’d have killed Blaze if that had been the case.

“Oh and I bet it really gets to you, doesn’t
it,” she went on, as if she’d been able to hear his thoughts. “That
you don’t know who did it. It could have been me, or Ash. Hell, it
could have been Blaze for all you know. Do you make it policy to
befriend those who could have murdered your family?”

His lips pulled back as he bared his fangs at
her. He’d trusted her when she’d said that she wouldn’t use this
against him. He should have known better. “You don’t think I think
about that every fucking day? Every fucking minute of my life since
they were ripped from me?”

Nitro propped her hand on her hip, leaning on
one leg. “I think you live for pain. You like to be the helpless
one in the group, the one that everyone feels sorry for because
he’s been forced to live the last century without his mate. You
certainly play the part well. You even had me falling for your act.
Tell me, did you act so hurt so that I would fuck you?” She
laughed. “Maybe that’s your game. I bet your wife is glad she’s rid
of you. In fact, I think she’s better off dead.”

Raider slammed into her, sending them both to
the ground. He clenched his hand into a fist and brought it down
toward her. Just before contact, he let it smash into the pavement
instead. Standing to his feet, he walked away. “Get the fuck out of
here and don’t come back,” he growled. “Or I’ll kill you
myself.”

****

Raider reached the front door of the mansion.
The wooden door felt extra heavy tonight, but that probably had to
do with the mood he was in. Anger, frustration, and the worst part
of all, it felt like a piece of his heart stayed behind with Nitro.
He slammed the door behind him, the walls shaking violently.
Stalking through the foyer, he headed toward the hallway when Ash
stopped him.

Raider turned toward him, baring his fangs.
“Get the fuck out of here. You’re not welcome here, you piece of
shit.”

Ash glared at the Guardian, light sparking to
life in his eyes. “I’ve never done anything to you, and neither has
she,” he replied. Realization hit him as he noticed Nitro wasn’t
with him. “Where
is
she?”

“I don’t really give a fuck,” Raider turned
toward the hallway. The sad part about it was that he really did. A
part of him was angry—livid—at the stunt she pulled, but the other
part of him wanted nothing more than to go to her, to make
everything alright between them. It felt as if his very soul was
ripped apart.

“Yes, you do. She’s never done anything to
you. Her demon was loose tonight, but she only harmed our
enemy.”

“Our enemy? She looked like my enemy tonight.
Her eyes were
red
,” he yelled.

Ash let out an exasperated sigh. “Listen. She
has a harder time with the anger than I do. She can’t help it, but
I know she cares for you. Gods, she’s going to kill me for saying
this, but…she loves you. I know,” he said at Raider’s unconvinced
expression, “she told me herself. She gave up something important
tonight because Ekhart threatened your life. And he threatened you
over the other Guardians—over
me
—because even he could see
her feelings for you.”